Rayna Cruz
Rayna CruzCW Listings: Week 15 February Listings is a recurring character and primary antagonist in the seventh season of . She is an immortal and malevolent vampire huntress whose sole purpose is to kill and entrap vampires within the Phoenix Stone. Her main target is Stefan Salvatore who has been marked by the Phoenix Sword, her trademark weapon. Therefore, Rayna pursues him furiously along with everyone, no matter the species, associated with him. She first appears in a flashforward featured in Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand, Give or Take and makes her first modern day appearance in Postcards from the Edge. History Not much is known about Rayna's history except that long ago shamans from an unknown origin cast a spell on Rayna, endowing her with powerful gifts and abilities that would allow her to hunt vampires. She was also bestowed with the Phoenix Stone and the Phoenix Sword which when used together allowed her to imprison any vampire's soul within the Stone forever. At some point in the mid-late 19th century, she began hunting the Heretics along with Julian and Lily Salvatore. She chased them across Europe for decades and at some point branding Beau with an X shaped scar and killing Julian, imprisoning his soul within the Phoenix Stone. Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series Season Seven In Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand, Give or Take, three years from now, Rayna appears in a flashforward hunting Stefan Salvatore and Damon Salvatore. In Never Let Me Go, three years from now, Rayna shoots Tony in the throat and Caroline Forbes is shot with a stake while been unseen. In Mommie Dearest, three years from now, Rayna takes Damon hostage after shooting him with multiple vervain darts. In Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, three years from now, Damon has been captured and chained up in a Dallas news station. He originally believes his captor to be his mother, Lily. However, it was later revealed that she was only a hallucination due to the werewolf toxin in his system. After telling him that his mother has been dead for years, Rayna kicks him in the face, knocking Damon out. In Things We Lost in the Fire, Nora Hildegard receives a card with a red "X" on it and she tells Bonnie Bennett that it is Rayna's warning. She tells her that she'll be coming for Stefan, Julian, Beau and anyone else who has been marked by her sword. In the flashforward, it is revealed that Matt Donovan is working for her. In Postcards from the Edge, Rayna is found by Bonnie, Nora and Mary Louise in a mental asylum. Rayna is an old woman and pretends to be senile with no knowledge of the supernatural. Believing she wasn't the one they were looking for, the two vampires leave, leaving Bonnie alone with her. Rayna brutally attacks Bonnie after convincing her to give her a cookie, however, Bonnie is saved when Enzo throws a knife into Rayna's throat, killing her. However, when Enzo steals and places her body into a glass chamber, her body distingrates and Rayna is reborn from her ashes as a young and powerful woman. In the flashforward, Matt injects Stefan with vervain as ordered and Rayna tells him that he is free to go and wishes him a nice life. Now that she has both the Salvatore brothers as she looks at a weakened Damon tied to a chair with amusement. Personality According to Nora, Rayna is ruthless and will stop at nothing until she has killed the vampires that have been marked by her sword, other vampires, and people involved with said vampires. She is shown to be to have some sort of mental instability as she killed a human cashier in a supermarket, mistaking them for a vampire. She is also shown to be quite good at feigning being senile with Mary Louise, Nora and Bonnie. Until the two heretics leave, she shows her true colors to Bonnie and attempts to strangle her so she can be released. Physical Appearance As a young woman, Rayna has long black/dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. According to Damon, she bares a resemblance to Elena Gilbert and her three doppelgangers. She also seems to have a very dark exterior and wears a dark leather jacket in a flashforward of Postcards from the Edge. As an old woman, Rayna had medium length gray hair and wore a mental patient's attire. Equipment *'The Phoenix Stone Sword:' Rayna once wielded the Phoenix Sword that was custom made just for her, supposedly by shamans that allowed her to trap the soul of any vampire she killed within the Phoenix Stone where they are forced to endure a personal hell of a past memory. The stone acts similar to the Hunter's Curse in which escapees are haunted by horrifying hallucinations from their personal hell, where they do the most despicable things in order to free themselves from the stone's influence without being fully aware of their own actions. Powers and Abilities *'Enhanced Strength:' According to Nora, shamans endowed Rayna with enhanced strength. This is proven due to the many vampires she has defeated. Her strength seems to be able to match that of a vampire's. As she has been able to hold her own against even the most powerful of vampires such as Julian. Her strength also doesn't falter with old age, even as an old woman, she is able to restrain Bonnie with one hand while attempting to strangle her. *'Immunity to Magic:' Through unknown means, Rayna has stated that magic does not work on her. This is proven to be true after Bonnie tries to use pain infliction on her when the latter attempts to kill her, but to no avail. *'Longevity:' Rayna ages, just like an ordinary human, but at an extremely slow rate and therefore has an extended lifespan. *'Self-Resurrection:' Though not much is known about Rayna's ability to continue to resurrect from the dead at the moment, only that when she dies, her body is engulfed in flames and she is reborn from the ashes to her physical prime (despite whatever age she is prior to her death, her body's physical age is reversed prior to each reincarnation). Akin to a phoenix rising from the ashes. Weaknesses *'Mortality:' Despite her enhanced physical attributes, Rayna is still human and shares many of the same weaknesses as a non-supernatural being, such as aging (though at an extremely slow rate), decapitation, drowning, heart extraction, suffocation, etc (but she will always be reborn). *'Hunter Instinct:' Rayna appears to suffer from the same supernatural urge to kill vampires as the Brotherhood of the Five. The more vampires she kills, the more stronger the urge becomes. This urge is purely instinctual and seems to worsen with age and begin to affect the mind. As the desire to kill vampires has had a huge impact on Rayna's mental stability in which she accidentally mistakes a supermarket cashier for a vampire and brutally murders her, leading to her being confined into a secure psychiatric hospital as an old woman. She later escapes after being restored to her true form by Enzo. Appearances Season Seven *''Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand, Give or Take'' (Flashforward) *''Never Let Me Go'' (Unseen/Flashforward) *''Age of Innocence'' (Mentioned) *''Live Through This'' (Mentioned) *''Mommie Dearest'' (Unseen/Flashforward) *''Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me'' (Flashforward) *''Cold as Ice'' (Mentioned) *''Things We Lost in the Fire'' (Mentioned) *''Postcards from the Edge'' *''This Woman's Work'' *''Moonlight on the Bayou'' *''I Would for You'' *''7x16'' https://twitter.com/IAmLAHuff/status/691676419093585920 Name *'Rayna' is either a Bulgarian form of "Regina", meaning "queen" in Latin, or a feminine form of "Rayno", meaning "happy, willing" in Slavic. *'Cruz' is Spanish and means "cross". Trivia *Her original casting call name was "Hannah". *It is most likely that her name, Rayna, is a reference to the video games BloodRayne which ironically are about a vampire hunter named Rayne. *She is a dangerous vampire hunter who returns to the world of the living after being taken out by her enemies, and "fierce, driven, smart and confident – a deadly legend who literally cannot rest until her vengeance is complete." *According to her casting sides (which tend to be false and loosely based on the character's actual story), she was being pursued by Julian in 1860 where he killed her father and she vowed to kill him with presumably the phoenix stone sword. She also vowed to kill everyone Julian knew and she was in a situation where Damon trapped her but she had Stefan captured underwater, struggling to breathe. *Based on the actress' background and her last name, it's very likely she is of Filipino descent. *As Mikael was feared the world over as The Vampire Who Hunts Vampires, or The Hunter, Rayna is feared as The Huntress. They are both immensely powerful vampire hunters, as Mikael was an Original Vampire, and Rayna was spelled by shamans to be a powerful vampire hunter, who Nora describes as unstoppable. *According to Nora, the Phoenix Sword was custom made just for her. *Like the Brotherhood of the Five, Rayna was spelled by witches to be a powerful vampire hunter, granting her increased strength and powers, as well as the urge to kill vampires. *Unlike the Five, when Rayna dies, her body is engulfed in flames and Rayna's youth is restored, like a phoenix rising from the ashes after its death. *The process of Rayna's rebirth is the opposite of an Original Vampire's death. When an Original dies, their body becomes lifeless and is consumed by flames. Rayna, however, dies, is engulfed in flames, then reverts to a younger appearance and rises, going from death to rebirth from the flames. Gallery 7X08-113-Rayna.jpg 712-055-Rayna.jpg 712-076-Rayna.jpg 712-099-Rayna.jpg 712-097-Rayna.jpg Old_Woman-712.jpg 712-098-Bonnie-Rayna.jpg 712-151-Rayna.jpg 712-153-Enzo-Rayna.jpg Rayna's resurrection.png 712-155-Rayna.jpg Rayna.png 712-160-Rayna.jpg References See also Category:Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Female Characters Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Seven Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Major Antagonists Category:Humans Category:Supernatural Category:Vampire Hunters